Cargo

The Port of Hamburg has one of the most tightly knit networks of liner services in Europe, making it an important transport hub for the worldwide flow of cargo. Thanks to a well-developed network of liner services, virtually any seaport in the world can be reached from the Port of Hamburg. Around 10,000 ocean-going ships call at Germany’s biggest universal port each year. The range of cargo includes everything from containers and bulk cargo right through to project and heavy consignments as well as RoRo cargo.

In the first three months of 2012 the Port of Hamburg achieved total throughput of 32.6 million tons (+ 3.8 percent). At 2.2 million TEU (20-ft standard containers), throughput on the container handling that predominates in Hamburg as a universal port was 5.2 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2011. Compared to the main ports further West, Hamburg thus gained additional market share and strengthened its position as the Northern European hub for container traffic; Rotterdam’s throughput was down by 3.9 percent, while Antwerp’s increase was comparatively minimal at 0.7 percent.

The cabinet decision taken in Lower Saxony on Tuesday, 3 April 2012, means that the required assent from the three states of Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony for the adjustment of the navigation channel on the Lower and Outer Elbe has now been received. Frank Horch, Hamburg’s Minister of Economics, Transport and Innovation, commented: “It was only right to take time to arrive at a fair reconciliation of the different interests.

The Port of Hamburg regains market shares and foresees a positive annual balance on total seaborne cargo throughput

In 2011 Germany’s largest universal port achieved a seaborne cargo throughput totalling 132.2 million tons that represents an increase of 9.1 percent. Container throughput in 2011 totalled 9 million 20-feet standard containers (TEU), or 1.12 million TEU more than in 2010. Of all ports in the North European Range, in 2011 Hamburg therefore achieved the fastest absolute growth in container throughput. 

At 99 million tons, in the first nine months of the year throughput in the Port of Hamburg advanced by around 11 percent. This excellent, above-average result on throughput enabled the Port of Hamburg to recover market share in competition with the major ports in Northern Europe.

Totalling 6.8 million TEU (20-ft standard containers), throughput in Hamburg grew at a double-digit (15.3 percent) rate and hence distinctly faster than in the West ports of Antwerp (up 3.1 percent) and Rotterdam (up 7.7 percent).